[Hcoop-discuss] Server pricing

[Nathan Kennedy]

Clinton Ebadi wrote:
> Slightly OT, but I don't think that we should use Dell. Why not support
> a smaller and more deserving business (e.g. Penguin Computing). Dell is
> the master of cheap crap, and is not the kind of business I think a
> cooperative should support by purchasing hardware from.
>   
This is not really off-topic.  I agree that if we are purchasing Intel 
hardware we should look into smaller vendors, as long as they are 
established and can provide solid hardware with competitive value.

As for buying a hardware bundle from a colocation provider as Adam 
suggested, I'm not familiar enough with practices to say this from 
experience, but my hunch is that assuming we could find a a provider 
that offers suitable hardware, it would still be significantly cheaper 
to buy and/or assemble hardware ourselves and have it shipped there, 
since not being in the hardware business I imagine the markup that would 
be added by the provider would more than outweigh any bulk discounts.  
But we should definitely look at those options, and paying a little 
extra for safety and convenience makes sense.

-ntk